SECOND LESSON
Matthew Arnold’s “Balder Dead,” read by Mr. Holmes
“So on the floor lay Balder dead ...
And all the Gods and all the Heroes came,
And stood round Balder on the bloody floor.
Weeping and wailing; and Valhalla rang
Up to its golden roof with sobs and cries ...
But otherwise was Odin’s will.
And thus the father of the ages spake:—
‘Enough of tears, ye Gods, enough of wail!
Not to lament in was Valhalla made.
If any here might weep for Balder’s death,
I most might weep, his father; such a son
I lose today, so bright, so loved a God.
Balder has met his death, and ye survive—
Weep him an hour, but what can grief avail?
For ye yourselves, ye Gods, shall meet your doom,
All ye who hear me, and inhabit Heaven,
And I too, Odin too, the Lord of all.
But ours we shall not meet, when that day comes.
With women’s tears and weak complaining cries—
Why should we meet another’s portion so?
Rather it fits you, having wept your hour.
With cold dry eyes, and hearts composed and stern.
To live, as erst, your daily life in Heaven.
Meanwhile, bring wood to the seashore to Balder’s ship.
And on the deck build high a funeral-pile.
And on the top lay Balder’s corpse, and put
Fire to the wood, and send him out to sea
To burn; for that is w’hat the dead desire.’
“(Then came the next, the warrior Thor),
And over Balder’s corpse these words did say:—
‘Brother, thou dwellest in the darksome land.
And talkest with the feeble tribes of ghosts.
Now, and I know not how they prize thee there—
But here, I know, thou wilt be miss’d and mourn’d.
For haughty spirits and high wraths are rife
As among those whose joy and work is war;
And daily strifes arise, and angry words.
But from thy lips, O Balder, night or day.
Heard no one ever an injurious word
To God or Hero, but thou keptest back
The others, labouring to compose their brawls.
Be ye then kind, as Balder too was kind!
For we lose him, who smoothed all strife in Heaven’...
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